Improvement of date palm production in the Sultanate of Oman

The Sultanate of Oman is located in the south-eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. The general climate is hot and arid with an average of 100 mm of rainfall per year. High temperatures leads to high rates of evapotranspiration during most of the year. Date palm is the primary crop in the Sultanate of Oman and represents 82% of all fruit trees in the country. Irrigation using scarce water resources is practiced in all date producing regions of Oman. Soil and water salinity, pests and diseases, increased production costs as well as limited market outlets led to a decline in date production in recent years. This paper presents ways to improve date palm production in Oman. Factors that adversely affect date palm production are discussed and solutions are proposed to increase total production of dates in Oman.